JP4490681B2 - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a medical image diagnostic apparatus for displaying an image related to a subject.

Conventionally, medical image diagnostic apparatuses represented by X-ray image diagnostic apparatuses, X-ray CT apparatuses (computer tomography), ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses, etc., identify an affected area anatomically based on Western medical viewpoints, It has been used to make a diagnosis. Recently, however, there has been a movement toward actively incorporating oriental medical therapy into natural sciences and merging with Western medicine.

Whereas Western medicine is based on an anatomical view of the affected area, Oriental medicine is based on an overall perspective. For example, what is called the Yin Yang Five-Goed Theory originates from the religions and philosophies of ancient India and China, but is also applied to medicine in China. According to this theory, the five elements of the earth, water, fire, wind, and sky are in a balanced state among humans, which is a healthy state, and is useful for determining diseases and their treatment methods. ing.

According to Oriental medicine, the flow of “Qi” is considered to be an important factor in the balance of the body as well as blood. And the point which exists on this meridian and can control the flow of air is called acupoint (so-called acupoint). When you get ill, you get turbulent in the meridians, and acupuncture is used to correct the turbulence.

The idea of meridians and acupoints may contradict anatomical views in Western medicine,
There are parts that have not been scientifically proven. However, in China and other countries, most of the folk remedies have adopted the oriental medicine, and many reports have been made that this field as a coping therapy is useful. In addition, Oriental medicine is based on the concept of adjusting the balance of the whole body, and has the side effects that tend to have fewer side effects compared to Western medicine surgery / medical therapy. Many have been reported.

Considering this situation, it can be said that actively incorporating oriental medicine therapy into natural sciences and merging with Western medicine has great potential for further medical development. There is also a movement to achieve such integration. For example, in China, there are movements such as installing a department of acupuncture treatment in a hospital that conducts Western medical care in which a medical image diagnostic apparatus as described above is installed.

Furthermore, in order to promote the attempt to fuse such Western medicine with Oriental medicine, examination of the relationship between the results of medical diagnostic images and the balance of care, or the acupuncture treatment policy that received the diagnostic image results, etc. Specific integration is becoming necessary. Therefore, medical image diagnostic apparatuses are also required to support the fusion of the above-mentioned Oriental medicine and Western medicine by various methods.

However, in the conventional medical image diagnostic apparatus, no attempt has been made to fuse Western medicine and Oriental medicine as described above. In a conventional medical image diagnostic apparatus, all functions are for diagnosis and treatment based on Western medicine, and in order to obtain information indicating the relationship between medical diagnostic images and Oriental medical therapy, the literature and experience There was nothing else but to search for it.

In addition, treatment methods by oriental medicine have been established through many years of experience, and the nature of the theory based on systematic causal relationships using natural sciences such as western medicine is unique. Different. Furthermore, there are 361 types of acupuncture points compliant with WHO (World Health Organization), and these acupoints have different symptoms and effects. In addition, each acupuncture point is "
It exists on the meridians that are the flow paths of “ki”, and each meridian is considered to be a different kind of qi flow. It is not easy to grasp such a complicated theory. Therefore, many doctors and researchers in Western medicine have few opportunities to receive sufficient education in Oriental medicine. Therefore, the current situation is that there are only a few doctors and researchers who fully understand both Oriental medicine and Western medicine.

However, as described above, the combined use of oriental medical therapy and western medical therapy has already begun. Therefore, doctors have been forced to understand both therapies. Therefore, it is necessary for doctors and researchers of Western medicine to support something for grasping Oriental medicine therapy. There is also a need for support for doctors and researchers of Oriental medicine to grasp medical diagnostic images based on anatomical aspects. Further, even for a doctor who fully understands both, the support for efficiently performing a combination of treatments with completely different properties on a subject is very useful. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its object is to provide a medical image diagnostic apparatus having a function for supporting fusion of Western medical therapy and Oriental medical therapy, a control program for the medical image diagnostic apparatus, and a super program. The object is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

In order to achieve the above object, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention includes an image acquisition unit that acquires ultrasonic image information by scanning a subject with an ultrasonic beam, and an ultrasonic wave acquired by the image acquisition unit. In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including image display means for displaying image information, first information generation means for generating information on at least part of acupoints and meridians, and which part of the subject A second information generating unit configured to generate body mark information for indicating whether a diagnostic image is displayed; the image display unit is generated by the first information generating unit together with the ultrasonic image; And a display control function for simultaneously displaying information generated by the second information generating means.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a medical image diagnostic apparatus, a control program for a medical image diagnostic apparatus, and an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a function of supporting fusion of Western medical therapy and Oriental medical therapy.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, an example of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is shown as an example of a medical image diagnostic apparatus.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as an embodiment according to the present invention. This example
As an image acquisition means, an ultrasonic probe 1 for transmitting / receiving an ultrasonic signal to / from the subject OBJ, and an apparatus main body for driving the ultrasonic probe and processing a reception signal of the ultrasonic probe 1 2 and an input device 3 connected to the apparatus main body 2 for inputting information for an instruction from the operator to the apparatus main body 2, and a monitor 4 as image display means.

The input device 3 can display an image of buttons, a keyboard, a trackball, or various operation information, which can control the device and set various image quality conditions, and can be input by touching the screen. A touch command screen that can be used may be included.

The apparatus main body 2 includes an ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 5, a signal processing unit 6, an image generation circuit 7, a control processor 8, a storage medium 9, and an interface 10.

The ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 5 includes a transmission circuit such as a delay circuit and a pulsar circuit, and A
It comprises a receiving circuit such as a / D converter and an adder, generates a pulsed ultrasonic signal, sends it to a vibration element built in the ultrasonic probe 1, and transmits the ultrasonic signal to the subject OBJ. The transmitted ultrasonic signal is scattered by the tissue in the subject OBJ. The scattered ultrasound signal is received again by the ultrasound probe 1 to obtain a received signal. The obtained reception signal is transmitted to the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 5.

The output from the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 5 is transmitted to the signal processing unit 6. Here, the data as the intensity of the ultrasonic signal is image data expressed by brightness.

The image generation circuit 7 converts the scanning line signal sequence of the ultrasonic scan into a scanning line signal sequence of a general video format typified by a television or the like. These are combined with character information and scales of various setting parameters and output to the monitor 4 as a video signal. Thus, a tomographic image representing the tissue shape of the subject OBJ is displayed. In addition, the image generation circuit 7 is equipped with a storage memory for storing image data. For example, an operator can call up image data after diagnosis.

The control processor 8 has a function as an information processing apparatus (computer), and is a control means for controlling the operation of the entire apparatus. In addition, a control program is built in, and data is read from the storage medium 9 and a command for sending the processed data to each unit is issued.

The storage medium 9 stores the above-described various analysis software and programs in addition to storing diagnostic images. In addition, acupoint database containing image data with the position of acupuncture points on the image of the human body, the names of acupuncture points and acupuncture points, and text information such as effects, symptoms and disease names related to acupoints and acupuncture points is stored and controlled Necessary data is read in response to an instruction from the processor 8.

The interface 10 includes an interface circuit for controlling the input device 3, a communication circuit with an external storage device such as a printer 10a and an image file server (not shown), or an interface with the network 3a.

Next, a configuration of functions realized by the control program 8a of the control processor 8 will be described with reference to FIG. The control program 8 a includes a display control function 11, a body mark information generation function 12, a menu screen information generation function 13, an acupuncture point database function 14, and an acupuncture point information generation function 15. Here, the body mark information generation function 12 constitutes a second information generation means, the menu screen information generation function 13 constitutes a menu screen display means, and the acupuncture point database function 14 and the acupuncture point information generation function are the first selection means. The second selection unit and the acupuncture point information generation unit are configured.

First, the display control function 11 is a function for generating and outputting display data to be supplied to the image generation circuit 7. This includes functions realized in a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. With this function, diagnostic image data is generated by adding information for diagnosis such as measurement information based on the image data obtained from the signal processing unit 6.

The body mark information generation function 12 receives the input from the input device 3 and the examiner performs the subject OBJ.
This is a function for generating image data representing a body mark for indicating to which position the ultrasonic probe 1 is applied. This function is also provided in a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and is a function for displaying a schematic diagram of a human body on a monitor with a mark indicating the position of the ultrasonic probe 1.

The menu screen information generation function 13 is a function for receiving image data from the input device 3 and generating image data indicating options for prompting the operator to select data on acupoints and meridians desired to be displayed.

The acupuncture point database function 14 extracts and stores information on acupuncture points. That is, the menu screen information generation function 13 is executed in accordance with the option selected via the input device 3. In accordance with this execution, the acupuncture point database function 14 is a function for extracting and storing data on acupuncture points stored in the storage medium 9.

The acupuncture point information generation function 15 is a function that receives data on acupoints and meridians stored by the acupuncture point database function 14 and generates image data representing information on acupoints and meridians.

Image data generated by each information generation function is appropriately combined by the display control function 11 and transmitted to the image generation circuit 7 or the interface 10 to display or print an image.

Next, an operation example in the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation example in this embodiment. First, in step S1, a screen is displayed that shows options for selection such as which acupuncture points the operator displays. As a method for calling, a button with a display such as “Acupuncture point display” or the like is displayed on the monitor 6 as a command menu, and this can be designated using the input device 3, or acupuncture points can be displayed on the input device 3. An input mechanism such as a button for calling a menu screen may be provided. Here, in particular, it is preferable to be able to be called up while displaying a real-time ultrasonic image during diagnosis or an ultrasonic image taken in the past stored in the storage medium 9.

Next, in step S2, the control processor 8 that has received the signal input from the operator.
Displays the menu screen on the monitor screen 4a, which is the display screen of the monitor 4, and displays the displayed acupuncture point options. An example of an image representing the displayed options is a display form as shown in FIG. This is an image showing a part of a human body and acupoints and meridians at that part, and a plurality of human body part options 16 are displayed.

It should be noted that 361 acupuncture points exist only for acupuncture points that are compliant with WHO (World Health Organization), and it is difficult to display all the options 16 on one screen 4a. For this reason, some options 16 may be displayed on the monitor screen 4 a and the other options 16 may be displayed by using the scroll buttons 17. The displayed option 16 may display the corresponding acupuncture points and the names of the meridians and the effects, symptoms, and disease names related to the acupoints and the meridians.

Further, the names of acupoints and meridians and the effects, symptoms, and disease names related to acupoints and meridians may be used as option 16. For example, when the above-mentioned button marked “Acupuncture point display” is selected, before the image shown in FIG. 4 is displayed, “Selection by region”, “Selection by acupuncture name”, as shown in FIG.
“Select by transpulmonary”, “Select by symptom”, or the like may be displayed to allow the operator to select. For example, when the operator selects “Select by region”, the control processor 8 displays image data representing a part of the human body marked with acupuncture points and prompts the operator to select. For example, when “selection by acupuncture name” is selected, the control processor 8 sets “Ao-O” “
Display the choices consisting of hiragana characters in the order of the Japanese syllabary, such as “Ka-ko”. When the operator selects an option corresponding to the acupuncture point desired to be displayed, for example, “A”, the name of the acupuncture point corresponding to the option “A” is “Foot shadow”, “Ashigari”
, “Ashisanri”, “Atsudani”, “Ashikanseki”, etc. are displayed to prompt the operator to select one.

In addition, in the case of “selection according to transvenous” or “selection according to symptom”, instead of “a-o”, “ka-ko”...

In step S3, the operator uses the input device 3 to select the option 16 desired to be displayed from the options described above.

Furthermore, as step S4, the control processor 8 extracts information corresponding to the selected option 16 from the acupuncture point database stored in the storage medium 9 in advance. Then, based on the extracted information, as shown in FIG. 6, the acupuncture point display image representing a part of the human body with the meridian line 18a and the meridian mark 18 on the monitor screen 4a. 19 is displayed. The diagnostic image 20 is displayed in the same form as that displayed by a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and the acupuncture point display image 19 is displayed at a position as seen compared to the diagnostic image 20. The acupuncture point display image 19 needs to be displayed so as to overlap or not overlap with only a part of the diagnostic image 20.

Furthermore, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in the present embodiment may have a mechanism for displaying the body mark 21 as shown in FIG. This function is also provided in a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and is a function for displaying a schematic diagram of a human body with a mark 22 indicating the position of the ultrasonic probe 1. With this function, it is possible to know to which position of the subject OBJ in FIG. In FIG. 6, the body mark 21 is displayed separately from the acupuncture point display image 19, but the mark 22 indicating the position of the ultrasonic probe 1 may be displayed superimposed on the acupuncture point display image 19. . The display of the body mark 21 can be switched between display / non-display by an operator input.

In addition to the above-mentioned image data, if there is information in the acupuncture point database related to the displayed information, such as the names of meridians and acupoints, effects, and names of corresponding human body parts, the information May be displayed, or the operator may select whether to display / hide detailed information on the acupuncture points as necessary by input using the input device 3. For example, as step S5, it is assumed that the operator selects an arbitrary acupoint on the image displayed on the monitor screen 4a.

Then, as step S6, the control processor 8 displays the acupuncture point detailed information 23 corresponding to the selected acupuncture point as shown in FIG. 8 on the monitor screen 4a.

  Next, in step S7, the operator outputs / stores data as necessary.

As an output form, data (diagnosis image 20, acupuncture point display image 19, body mark 21 and acupuncture point detailed information 23) displayed on the monitor screen 4a is output by an external printer connected via the interface 10 of FIG. It may be printed, or may be stored in the storage medium 9 or an external storage medium connected via the interface 10.

Here, details of the flow of control performed by the control processor 8 by the control program 8a for displaying the acupuncture point display image 19 in steps S2 to S4 in FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step T1, the menu screen information generation function 13 of the control processor 8
Detect operator input. In step T2, menu screen information generation function 13
Calls necessary information stored in the storage medium 9 and generates image data of the menu screen. The generated image data is transmitted to the image generation circuit 7 via the display control function 11 in step T3, and the menu screen is displayed on the monitor 4. In the menu screen displayed here, in addition to information for representing options, a part of information related to diagnosis may be displayed together, and image synthesis processing at that time is performed by the display control function 11. .

Next, in step T4, the menu screen information generation function 13 detects an operator input on the menu screen. In step T4 ′, the menu screen information generation function 13 determines whether it is necessary to display further options from the input information, and returns to step T2 if necessary. Specifically, when an input corresponding to an option 17 such as “selection by part” on the menu screen of FIG. 5 is performed, a menu screen corresponding to the input is newly displayed.

If an input is made to display the acupuncture point display image 19, the process proceeds to step T5. In step T5, the acupuncture point database function 14 operates to extract information on the acupuncture points and the meridians from the acupuncture point database based on the input information from the operator input device 3. In step T6, the acupuncture point information generation function 15 generates image data representing the position information of the acupuncture points based on the extracted information.

The control processor 8 synthesizes the generated image data with image data representing a diagnostic image by the display control function 11 at step T 7, transmits the synthesized image data to the image generation circuit 7, and displays it on the monitor 4. To do.

Next, in step S6 in FIG.
The control flow of the control processor 8 by the control program 8a when 3 is displayed will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step U1, the acupuncture point information generation function 15 is operated by the operator using the input device 3
The selection input information for the acupuncture point display image 19 is acquired. In step U2,
The acupuncture point database function 14 extracts information on acupoints and meridians from the acupuncture point database based on the acquired input information. In step U3, the acupuncture point information generation function 15 generates image data representing detailed acupuncture point information based on the extracted information.

In step U4, the display control function 11 combines the generated image data with the image data representing the diagnostic image and the image data representing the acupuncture point information, and transmits the combined image data to the image generation circuit. Display above.

Further, the acupuncture point database used here may be stored in advance in the storage medium 9 of the apparatus main body 2 of FIG. 1. However, as described above, since there are a wide variety of types of acupuncture points, an external storage medium is used as necessary. Or it is preferable that it can acquire from the network 3a via the interface 10. FIG.

According to the embodiment described above, medical diagnostic images and acupoints in oriental medical therapy can be grasped in association with each other.

For example, the diagnostic image 20 in FIG. 6 represents an ultrasonic tomographic image of the heart. This
The state of heart wall motion and the state of blood flow can be observed, and the disease determined therefrom can be acquired as a diagnosis result. On the other hand, the acupuncture point display image 19 displays a portion called a polar spring.

This acupoint is said to be useful for heart disease. According to the present embodiment, the diagnosis image 20 is determined from the diagnosis image 20 by using an image in which at least one of the body image 21, the body mark 21, the acupuncture point display image 19 and the acupuncture point detailed information 23 is displayed in parallel or printed. It becomes easy to obtain information on acupuncture points based on the disease. In addition, when there is information on acupuncture performed in advance by the subject OBJ, it is very easy for the operator to understand the information. This can be a particularly useful aid for operators with incomplete knowledge of Oriental medicine.

Furthermore, it is very useful for explaining treatments to the subject OBJ and for interrogation. For example, when the subject OBJ subsequently receives acupuncture, it is easy to simultaneously explain the medical condition using the diagnostic image 20 and the acupuncture treatment using the acupuncture display image 19 and the acupuncture detail information 23. Become. The medical diagnostic apparatus of this embodiment is considered to be very useful when performing such informed consent. In addition, the subject OBJ can instruct which acupuncture points are useful when performing acupuncture treatment by himself / herself in the future. Furthermore, when the subject has received acupuncture treatment in advance, it can be clearly indicated which acupuncture treatment is the diagnostic image after.

In addition, there is a therapy called ultrasound therapy by applying ultrasound to the acupuncture site, and it has been reported that the therapy is useful. In the present embodiment, by using the body mark 21, the operator can easily grasp which acupuncture point corresponds to the position where the current ultrasonic probe 1 is pressed. Therefore, it can be said that the medical diagnostic apparatus of the present embodiment is very useful when verifying what effect is obtained by transmitting an ultrasonic pulse from the ultrasonic probe 1 to the acupuncture point.

It is also very useful for verifying the association between acupoint stimulation and blood flow using the blood behavior body observation function (Doppler image), which is a well-known diagnostic form by an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus. . Considering that the verification report using the conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has already been made, the medical diagnostic apparatus of the present embodiment can easily grasp the relationship between the position of the ultrasonic probe 1 and the position of the acupuncture point. It can be said that it is very useful for such verification and research.

By the way, in the above-described embodiment, the menu screens as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 and FIGS.
Although the display screen of the position of the acupuncture points as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed on the monitor screen 4a, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, you may display on the touch command screen provided in a part of operation panel which comprises the input device 3. FIG. The touch command screen can display information for guiding an operator's operation using a liquid crystal display or the like. In this case, the operator's input may be performed by a touch panel method that is performed by directly touching the screen of the touch command screen 12, or each option 16 is given a number and a corresponding button is pressed. It may be done by.

Further, a unit dedicated for acupoints may be provided separately. For example, a diagram in which the position of acupuncture points is attached to a schematic diagram of the human body is shown on the operation panel, and buttons corresponding to the respective acupoints and parts of the human body are arranged on the operation panel. If the operation panel is operated, the mechanism information may be extracted / displayed by transmitting the operation information to the apparatus main body 2 via the interface 10.

Furthermore, a monitor screen for displaying the position and information of the acupuncture points may be provided in this acupuncture point dedicated unit. In this case, the information of the body mark is taken from the apparatus main body 2 into the acupuncture point dedicated unit via the interface 10. In addition, it is preferable to have a mechanism in which output such as printing and storage is performed in association with an ultrasonic diagnostic image.

  In this embodiment, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this.

For example, a tomographic image of a subject can be obtained by using an X-ray diagnostic apparatus capable of obtaining an image inside the subject by emitting X-rays, an X-ray CT apparatus, or a nuclear magnetic resonance phenomenon. Needless to say, any medical diagnostic apparatus capable of displaying an image of a subject such as a nuclear magnetic resonance imaging apparatus can be easily applied.

The block diagram which shows the Example which applied this invention to the ultrasound diagnosing device. The block diagram of the function of the control program contained in a control processor. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation example in the ultrasonic apparatus of FIG. 1. The figure which shows an example of the menu screen displayed in the case of selection of the human body part displayed. The figure which shows an example of the menu screen for designating the selection method of the acupuncture point displayed. The figure which shows an example of the image which displays an acupuncture point display image and a diagnostic image. The figure which shows an example of the image which displays a body mark. The figure which shows an example of the image which displays acupuncture point detailed information. The flowchart of the control which a control processor performs when displaying an acupuncture point display image. The flowchart of the control which a control processor performs when displaying detailed information on acupuncture points.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ultrasonic probe 2 Apparatus main body 3 Input apparatus 4 Monitor 4a Monitor screen 5 Ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 6 Signal processing unit 7 Image generation circuit 8 Control processor 9 Storage medium 10 Interface 11 Display control function 12 Body mark information generation function 13 Acupuncture point database function 14 Menu screen information generation function 15 Acupuncture information generation function 16 Option 17 Scroll button 18 Mark indicating acupuncture point 19 Acupuncture display image 20 Diagnostic image 21 Body mark 22 Mark indicating the position of the ultrasonic probe 23 Acupuncture detailed information

Claims (5)

Ultrasound diagnosis including image acquisition means for acquiring ultrasonic image information by scanning a subject with an ultrasonic beam, and image display means for displaying ultrasonic image information acquired by the image acquisition means In the device
First information generating means for generating information on at least a portion of acupoints and meridians;
A second information generating means for generating body mark information for indicating which part of the subject is displaying a diagnostic image;
The image display means includes a display control function for simultaneously displaying the information generated by the first information generation means and the information generated by the second information generation means together with the ultrasonic image. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. A printing unit configured to print at least a part of the information generated by the first information generation unit and at least a part of the information acquired by the second information generation unit and the image acquisition unit; The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1. 2. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an information synthesis unit for displaying the display by the first information generation unit and the second information generation unit using a diagram representing one human body. . The image display means includes a display control function for displaying the information generated by the first information generation means and the information generated by the second information generation means in a superimposed manner. Item 2. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to Item 1. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising means for switching display / non-display of the information generated by the first information generating means or the information generated by the second information generating means. Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment.

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